Collapse of the Third Republic: An Inquiry into the Fall of France in 1940

Collapse of the Third Republic: An Inquiry into the Fall of France in 1940

William L Shirer

Language: English

Pages: 1084

ISBN: 0671203371

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub


On June 17, 1940 William L. Shirer stood in the streets of Paris and watched the unending flow of gray German uniforms along its boulevards. In just six lovely weeks in the spring and summer of 1940 a single battle brought down in total military defeat one of the world's oldest, greatest, and most civilized powers—the second mightiest empire on earth and the possessor of one of the finest military machines ever assembled. How did it happen? After nearly a decade of research in the massive archives left from World War II and after hundreds of conversations with the Third Republic’s leaders, generals, diplomats, and ordinary citizens, Shirer presents the definitive answer in his stunning re-creation of why and how France fell before Hitler's armies in 1940. His book is also a devastating examination of the confusion, corruption, and cynicism that drained the strength and toughness of a democracy which Thomas Jefferson once called "every man's second country." This book complements and completes the dramatic story of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich and continues to rank as one of the most important works of history of our time.

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Ruins. The events of the last few days have created an entirely new military and strategic situation. If France does not face up to the consequences there will be a stampede among the friendly countries which until now have been firm. It will be a rush toward servitude…. And we must have no illusion as to what will happen thereafter. New invasions will come to our country and threaten to submerge it.5 Without waiting for Hitler’s next conquest the French shortly after Munich had bestirred.

Material. In fact, before I had finished my research in Paris in the late 1960s, the material was becoming mountainous, and it took some time to make one’s way out of the thick woods of documentation and testimony into the clearing. The so-called “Wilhelmstrasse Documents,” published by the German Foreign Office in 1941 and covering events in France from May 29, 1939, to June 3, 1940, are of considerable value. These consisted of a selection from 1800 cartons of secret papers from the French.

Grow dull when he left off character assassination or a call to bump off some Republican scoundrel and indulged in pseudo-metaphysical speculation, displaying his considerable classical learning, Léon Daudet, a lighthearted Parisian to the core, was almost always amusing and sometimes hilarious. He had an impish, Rabelaisian mind—most of his novels were considered risqué if not somewhat pornographic—a boyish love of scandal and a passion for exposing it, a fantastically rich and vulgar vocabulary.

Ambassador that France, because of the pitiful plight of its people, would have to ask for an end of hostilities. He would not do it himself, he assured Biddle, because he had signed the pledge to Britain. At any rate, he concluded, the “final decision” would be made at the meeting of the Council “tonight.” That was what the cabinet ministers had understood, and that was what Reynaud was saying. But it was not what was in his mind. Biddle seems to have felt that the Premier was being less than.

Detestable measure. It delivered the passage of the Rhône and deprived the Army of the Alps of its principal protection on its northern flank.”41 General Orly, commander of the Army, which had been holding out so valiantly against the Italians, protested that the order “sacrificed” his troops. The mayors of other towns, learning that Lyon would be spared, besieged Bordeaux with demands that their municipalities also be declared “open cities” and that no warlike acts and particularly no bridge.

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